clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

The 10 Biggest New York City Real Estate Sales of 2011 (So Far)

New, 84 comments

On this scorching hot day, we thought we'd take a look at the hottest real estate deals the city has seen so far this year. The big 10 here accounted for a whopping $233,495,000 in sales. So how'd it break down? As usual, the Upper East Side dominates the list but there has been a fair share of movement in the high end of the Downtown market for the first half of 2011. We also noticed there were a lot of big names involved, none of the frequent masking and hiding behind LLCs. The Murdoch family name shows up more than once, a couple of movie stars, a Facebook founder. Let's not leave out chicken wings and muppets, of course. Number one was a bit of a controversy magnet, with some of you out there not considering it to be one deal. The Curbed Judges have made their verdict, and we're sticking by it. So without further ado, the list...

10.) 20 East 10th Street [Greenwich Village]
How Much?: $18.995M
Vital Stats: 6,800 square feet, 5BR
The Skinny: The downtown townhouse of Sarah Jessica Parker and hubby Matthew Broderick comes in at the bottom of this list. After an extensive house search, SJP found the Greenwich Village home of her dreams off lower 5th Avenue. Insert Sex and the City headline starting with "In a town like New York can you ever really [fill in the blank]" here.


9.) 40 West 10th Street [Greenwich Village]
How Much?: $20,000,000
Vital Stats: 6,136
The Skinny: Number one The Social Network fan Sean Parker picked up the Bacchus House in Greenwich Village for all his wild parties. The place was on the market for a while, but we guess it takes someone like a Sean Parker to see the beauty in a Greenwich Village townhouse that has its own subway sound effects.

7a.) 640 Park Avenue Floor 3 [UES]
How Much?:20,500,000
Vital Stats: 6,200 square feet, 4BR/6BA
The Skinny: This palatial pad was on the market since 2009, asking a hefty $26,000,000 for all of its third floor glory. It finally took a decent $5.5M discount all the way down to $20.5M before it finally moved.

7b.) 25 Columbus Circle 62CE [UWS]
How Much?: $20,500,000
Vital Stats: Unknown
The Skinny: Toy moguls Al and Patsy Kahn were the buyers for Bernie Madoff's penthouse, which they bought at a discounted $8M. Karma might have bitten them on the butt though, their unit at the Time Warner Center was initially listed at $33.6M, then pricechopped to $24.95M. It finally sold for $20.5M.

6.) 50 Gramercy Park North PH [Gramercy]
How Much?: $22,000,000
Vital Stats: 7,000 square feet
The Skinny: It's been a long and sordid affair for the penthouse at 50 Gramercy Park North. It's a long story but the highlights include Icelandic businessmen, chicken wings and Ikea. After selling for $22M earlier this year, the massive unit is back on the market for a slimmer $21,400,000.

5.) 117-119 East 69th Street [UES]
How Much?: $23,000,000
Vital Stats: 12,118 square feet
The Skinny: The Edgar Bronfman aka Muppet Mansion hit the market for $27.25M back in February. Even after selling at a $4M discount for $23,000,000, it's the biggest townhouse sale on this list. Enjoy your mansion, James Murdoch.

4.) 15 Central Park West 27A [UWS]
How Much? $24,500,000
Vital Stats: 3BR/3.5BA 3,100 square feet
The Skinny: What kind of top 10 most expensive list could leave out the Limestone Jesus? After raising the price from $25M to $27M, the seller of this apartment wasn't able to satisfy their greedy urges. The place ended up selling for $24,500,000, even lower than the initial ask.


3.) 141 Prince Street PH [Soho]
How Much?: $25,000,000
Vital Stats: 9,309 square feet
The Skinny: Only Rupert Murdoch's old place could be the biggest downtown deal. After Gateway founder Ted Waitt bought the place for his girlfriend, they broke up. After buying the place for $27.5M, Waitts finally unloaded it for $25M. Ain't love grand?

2.) 834 Fifth Avenue #56A [UES]
How Much?: $36,000,000
Vital Stats: Unknown
The Skinny: Though it's not the biggest sale in the building, Leslie Wexner's duplex sale was big enough to land number two. Leslie, the billionaire owner of Limited Brands Inc moved close by to a townhouse on East 78th Street. The buyer of the duplex was none other than Larry Heyman, chairman of the GAF Group.

1.) 768 Fifth Avenue #1207 & 1209 [Midtown]
How Much?: $48,000,000
Vital Stats: 6,000 square feet
The Skinny: Back in February we found out that Russian composer Igor Krutoy and his wife Olga's big 12th floor buy at the Plaza went into contract for a number north of $40M. Later we found out that number was whopping $48,000,000 for the massive combination unit. No listing even touches this behemoth.